Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a Cornish inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartlands of this great county, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He went on to be an early pioneer of steam powered road and rail transport and was a mining engineer at Ding Dong Mine. His most significant contribution was the development of the first high-pressure steam engine. He also built the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Trevithick built a full-size steam road locomotive in 1801, on a site near the present-day Fore Street in Camborne. Trevithick named his carriage ‘Puffing Devil’ and on Christmas Eve that year, he demonstrated it by successfully carrying six passengers up Fore Street and then continuing on up Camborne Hill, from Camborne Cross, to the nearby village of Beacon. His cousin and associate, Andrew Vivian, steered the machine. This is widely recognised as the first demonstration of transportation powered by steam. It inspired the popular Cornish folk song "Camborne Hill". If you’re a local, reading this has now made this song stuck in your head! Richard married Jane Harvey, the daughter of Harvey’s of Hayle founder, John Harvey. She was the first landlady of The White Hart in Hayle. This is by far my favourite fact as Hayle is a home I’m proud of.

Cornwall & Merthyr Tydfil flags and Camborne town sign